Here’s today’s offering in the ‘Smile’ series for Sid Wright’s song that I have discussed previously on this blog. I’m exploring the notion of receiving in this study. We often have great difficulty with this as human beings, whether it is being good to ourselves or receiving from others. It  seemed to be a natural progression from previous work on this theme. I’m digressing from a more literal interpretation of the lyrics and exploring other outcomes here. I’ll see where it takes me, or this may be it, not sure yet. Staying open as ever. I meditate before drawing and often go for a walk to put me in a receptive state of mind. Listening to music helps too, Bon Jovi and Adele helped here today.

I made this drawing which is slightly smaller than A1 this afternoon whilst the light was still with me. I’m still interpreting Sid Wright’s song ‘Smile’ exploring the lyrics, which I can’t share yet, using colour and expanding the pose I have chosen. I’m still using myself as a model but it is not meant to be a self-portrait. I’m just the most convenient model. I’m finding it quite difficult interpreting the feel of the whole song as there are contrasting elements to it which provide a challenge. I really like working to someone else’s brief though especially if the work is good, as Sid’s lyrics are. They are universal as with all the best ones. The journey is not over yet though. I hope to have a pile of drawings for him to choose from for his book.

The drawing made today is a further exploration of the song ‘Smile’ written by Sid Wright. This time I am tentatively exploring more of the lyrics visually through colour again using myself as a model. I can’t really share the words yet until the book has been published. I’ve been listening to songs that reflect heartache in all it’s forms. The Ramones, the Rolling Stones and Chris Farlowe’s versions of ‘ Out Of Time’ along with Marianne Faithful’s album ‘Broken English’ provided a soundtrack to my drawing that really resonated. I feel the drawing more than draw it, and use any means I can to get in touch with my emotions. Music is great for that. My whole week builds to my drawing or painting on Mondays. The physical act of drawing or painting is a small part of it. All my 57 years on this earth are behind it! I made another drawing which I will share next along with a close-up of ‘Smile 3’, this other drawing was really a synthesis of the feelings and marks. The hand could be male or female. We are incredibly fragile as human beings. Relationships bring us the greatest joy but also the most misery.

Just thought I’d share a few thoughts on the drawing I made and have just shared on this blog. I was asked a while ago to illustrate a song for the musician, artist and writer Sid Wright.  This is for a book of songs that he is compiling, and the proceeds will go to a charity for victims of road traffic accidents. Sid lives in Cumbria, which I have a particular affinity with as I grew up there. I don’t want to say too much about the content of the song as the book has not been published yet. Enough to say, that it is very heartfelt. I remembered the drawing that I made in the summer for the Medea series called ‘Medea hold your heart’ which struck a chord with ‘Smile’. I decided to revisit that pose only this time showing part of the face with the mouth. I’m the most convenient and approachable model so I often use myself as a starting point. It is never meant to be a literal portrait but more of an archetype or universal notion of what I am trying to say. I made another drawing in the same sitting but this time in colour very quickly as the light was fading. I’ll work through the stages through drawing until I get somewhere, wherever that is! Watch this space.